I became serious about photography around age 14 after finding out my eyesight was not good enough to become a commercial airline pilot - an early ambition after my first Trans-Atlantic flight - the one that took me from Germany to the United States. I had considered photography magic from the day I first saw my father develop his own film. It wasn't long before I began using photography as a means of self expression. English was becoming my second language and you could say photography became my third language. I was soon winning photo competitions, got published in magazines and books, participated in some 70 group art exhibits, had several successful one man shows, became involved in some commercial photography, and worked as a newspaper photo-journalist during college. After a 2 year course with the New York Institute of Photography and later receiving a Bachelor's Degree in Communication Graphics, I went on to become a full-time professional industrial /commercial photographer for over 20 years. During this time I also taught several evening college classes in fine art photography, the art of seeing, the history of photography, and darkroom classes. In film days I shot only black and white - developing, processing, and printing all my own work. The idea was to have total control from visualization to the end product - not to mention I could hardly afford color work. By the turn of the century it was hard to avoid digital. I soon discovered that digital now offered me the same total control I had with black and white, but color was now affordable and just waiting to be explored. My passion for photography remains strong. My enjoyment comes from sharing the world I see around me - sharing the beauty. I try to avoid blurring the line between photography and Photoshop, finding too many images today are more digital illustrations than photographs. 'Less is more' still goes a long way. Some of are images are art, some are just for fun, some are documentary, many are just a by-product of enjoying life as it passes by. Art is the trace of one's life. All of it is fun and magic. Enjoy.
Bernd Billmayer joined Pixels.com Licensing on November 14th, 2015.
